Graduation is ONE MONTH from today! ONE MONTH!!
It's so crazy to be this close to finishing my undergraduate degree. After tomorrow I only have 3 weeks of student teaching left, and one week of class...and that's it. Forever.
Of course, for me it won't be forever. I actually feel like I'm going to be in school forever, but at least this piece will be done forever. And that is exciting! I'm not even walking, I'm not really having a party or anything, but it doesn't matter. I don't need a graduation gown or presents to feel good about what I've accomplished over these last four years. I feel good just because it feels good.
Today I thought I'd discuss field trips. We took one today. I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to see Stephen Fite in concert, and he was amazing. I want to buy all of his CDs for my future classroom. His songs are fun and packed-full of learning (he follows Common Core standards and puts activity suggestions in all of his CD booklets and on his website) and he is just a really charismatic and fun person to watch on stage. I didn't want the concert to end today! It was only an hour long and I probably could have sat there for another hour. I was dancing with the kids and we were all just having FUN. It was the perfect ending to my pirate unit. I know that I just got kind of lucky in that my big culminating activity was already kind of planned for me (thanks, CPS!) and I could spend my unit building up to something that I knew was going to be fantastic. I know other people did big video projects and presentations (which I did with my 2nd graders last semester, so I've done it before) but I just got to go to a concert and have fun with my kids and then have a nice class meeting at the end of the day to recap what we did and how it tied into what we've been learning for the past two weeks. I loved it. It was perfect. The only hard part was that our picnic was rained out... :( ... but we had a little picnic in our classroom instead and the kids thought it was just "so cool" that we got to eat at our seats (like we don't do that literally every day at snack time -- I guess a Lunchable is more fun).
Today was very relaxed. I got in all of the teaching that I intended to, which was good for me (I can be flexible and make changes to my plans, but I really don't like to if I can avoid it!). I was very pleased with how today went. It was also so great to see so many parents and aunts and grandmas come to watch the show today (no grandpas but a whole lot of grandmas). The children's faces just light up when they're around their families. They want to show off their families to their friends and their friends to their families. They get so excited, and so animated, and I just love to watch it. I just love these kids. I'm getting to the point where I'm sad thinking about leaving them in a few weeks. It's so strange how last week was probably the worst week of my experience so far and I couldn't wait to just get away from them (sounds harsh but the whole point of this blog is honesty, right?)...and now here I am a week later and all I want to do is hug them forever and never leave and love them, love them, love them.
Today I also feel it is appropriate to discuss mental health. Being a teacher is exhausting. How can one person feel so many things in such a short amount of time -- or even occasionally at the same time?! How can we love them so much and yet still cringe at the sound of their little voices from across the room screaming "I'M TELLING THE TEACHER!!!!"? I hate saying that sometimes they make me so frustrated I just want to go hide...but they do. I think that it's just part of learning to teach. You love them, but sometimes that love isn't enough to override the frustrations they bring with them. I think it's normal. I feel bad, but then I calm down and look at their sweet little faces and I always feel better. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think everyone has those days, those moments, when we ask ourselves "Why am I doing this?" And then we have the rest of the moments there to remind us exactly why -- they're just amazing little things, those kids.
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